OMAHA, Neb (KMTV) — Come September there will be a new man in charge of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Governor Jim Pillen appointed Steve Corsi to lead the department.
Corsi comes with experience in leading similar agencies, previously he was the head of Missouri's Department of Social Services, the Wyoming Department of Family Services, and his last job before the appointment was as the CEO of the Central Wyoming Counseling Center.
But he also came with a Twitter account full of questionable tweets.
"We really believe this appointment and these particular views are really going to harm the perception and trust that Nebraskans have, especially LGBTQ Nebraskans," said Abbi Swatsworth with OutNebraska.
The tweets causing controversy, which number in the dozens, ran the gamut of pushing anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, tweets criticizing ethnic studies in schools and promoting an "anti-woke" agenda. There were several that encouraged folks to speak out against LGBTQ+ individuals as well as implied that transgender children are more likely to be school shooters.
"This sort of rhetoric that we have seen is dangerous and leads to poor outcomes in a lot of different ways for our community," said Swatsworth.
While Pillen praised his appointee in a statement, several state senators — who will have to confirm his appointment — have spoken out against the pick.
State Sen. John Fredrickson tweeted on Wednesday that the appointment raised a number of red flags and Sen. Megan Hunt released several tweets expressing her concerns about Corsi, promising to derail his confirmation.
That won't happen until the legislature reconvenes in January. Corsi will take over his position as acting head of DHHS on Sept. 11.
In the meantime, Swatsworth hopes Corsi can put his personal views to the side and just focus on taking care of Nebraskans.
"We believe the leader of such an important state agency should focus on evidence-based information and follow the science. Not a focus on misinformation and culture war issues," said Swatsworth.
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